Dying With Dignity: Understanding Euthanasia

by Derek Humphry

Thanks to the runaway success of the number-one national bestseller Final the Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying, the right to die has been brought to the moral and political forefront. Derek Humphry's new book, Dying with Understanding Euthanasia, puts the somewhat confusing ethics and legality of the right to die in perspective and serves as an important companion volume to Final Exit.
Euthanasia became a personal experience for Derek Humphry when his first wife, Jean, who was suffering from terminal breast cancer, asked him to help her die. This unhappy event, and the public interest surrounding it, caused him to found the nonprofit National Hemlock Society and become the champion of this cause.
Through essays and briefings, Humphry's latest book, Dying with Dignity, helps readers work their way through the labyrinth of complex issues which comprise the subject.
Topics of discussion
Is it mercy or murder?
The case for rational suicide--when suicide is justified and the ethical parameters of autoeuthanasia (i.e., the taking of one's own life).
The trend toward acceptance--why more judges are increasingly ruling for the terminally ill patient's rights over the hospital's responsibilities to preserve life.
Evidence of the dramatic growth of the right-to-die movement.
Questions and answers about the Hemlock Society--answers including why this pioneer group was formed and what its political goals are. Specific questions regarding the pros and cons of different suicide methods are also discussed.
The landmark cases of eleven doctors who have been charged with killing a terminally ill patient or family member, and the consequences of these cases--from Harold Balzer, who in 1935 "murdered" his daughter, a victim of cerebral spinal meningitis, to Dr. Jack Kevorkian, who in 1991 developed a suicide machine.
The profound differences between mercy killing, assisted suicide, and auto-euthanasia--and the one the Hemlock Society supports and why.
Dying with Dignity also discusses the effect that major mercy killing cases have had--involving individuals like Roswell Gilbert, Dr. Peter Rosier, Nancy Cruzan, and Karen Ann Quinlan--and the lessons these cases have taught.
In Humphry's professional opinion, voluntary euthanasia will become lawful within the next few years. Recent polls overwhelmingly indicate that the public believes in a person's moral right to end his or her life when that person has an incurable disease. And with the surprising success of Final Exit, it's apparent that the right to die is on a lot of people's minds. Dying with Dignity will help readers to sort out the complexities of this issue.

215 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 1992

About the author

Derek Humphry was a British and American journalist and author notable as a proponent of legal assisted suicide and the right to die. In 1980, he co-founded the Hemlock Society and, in 2004, after that organization dissolved, he co-founded Final Exit Network. From 1988 to 1990, he was president of the World Federation of Right to Die Societies and was most recently the president of the Euthanasia Research & Guidance Organization (ERGO).
He was the author of several related books, including Jean's Way (1978), The Right to Die: Understanding Euthanasia (1986), and Final Exit: The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying (1991).

Reviews

[Aurélien Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Derek Humphry is a pro-euthanasia campaigner. Having helped his wife to die while she suffered a terminal cancer, he also founded the Hemlock Society, an international organisation supporting and advising people in need on the topic (he actually published some of such advices in 'Final Exit' a book which made scandal upon being released...).

Here, he deals with he subject in a broad manner, showing what are its implications while trying to dispel some common prejudices. He, obviously, defends his stance in supporting it, but he also challenges the readers to question themselves on a topic which requires sensibility, compassion and reflexion away from the taboo and stigma it too often is shrouded with.

What differentiate euthanasia from suicide? What is the difference between passive euthanasia and active euthanasia? What is the relevance of the Hippocratic oath? Writing mainly for an American audience, he even dare asking what are the impacts of the regulations surrounding prescription drugs on such an issue. He presses where it hurts, then, showing how various conflicts of interests trapping doctors and jurists can, at times, sadly be at the expense of patients.

Being a rough overview, this book doesn't have the answers to everything (what about, for example, the cases of children or people lacking capacity to make such decision?). Yet, it's a nice read to get a better understanding of the issues involved. The legal repercussions might be specific to the USA at the time of writing, but, ethically, this may be a decision we may have to face too, one day... A thought-provoking read.

[Amanda Papenfus · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an informative book. The main detractors for me were that part of it are repetitive and he plugs his organization and previous books A LOT.

[Kirby R. · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Jenifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read in my first book club. (Jennifer's)